what does "comreset failed" for a damaged HD mean?

My hard drive is physically damaged, but I am seeing signs of life, and hope to revive it long enough to save the files. The computer is at least detecting a hard drive in the bay, but kept saying "comreset failed" during boot, before it gave up and booted from my external HD.

So, what exactly does "comreset failed" suggest for the possibility of reviving the drive myself so I can avoid taking it to a professional? Is there anything I can do to even temporarily help it read the drive? This isn't like the last hard drive I broke a few years ago, when the computer couldn't detect anything at all to read.